Car door operating mechanism



March 11, 1952 K. E. ZEIDLER CAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 2 SHEETSSHEET l Filed Feb. 2;, 1949 March 11, 1952 K. E. ZEIDLER CAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Feb. 23, 1949 Patented Mar. 11, 1952 CAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Kurt E. Zeidler, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application February 23, 1949, Serial No. 77,729

This invention relates to railway car doors and has particular reference to operating fixtures therefor for use with doors of the sliding type which move parallel with the car side wall.

The majority of freight cars having horizontally slidable doors roll on rollers along a track secured to the car side wall below the door and are now equipped with operating fixtures which raise both sides of the door vertically and simultaneously until the rollers engage the track, at

"which time the door may be moved horizontally along the track. The use of such devices "is expensive, requiring a large amount of material jand number of parts, and the whole weight of the door must be raised before the door can be moved.

It is an object of the invention to provide a door and operating devices therefor which will tilt the door during the lifting operation, thereby lifting but half the weight of the door and crackf'ing the door open, eliminating the necessity of ,a separate starter.

It is a further object of the invention to reduce the weight of the door fixtures by reducing the number of parts required to effectively and easily ,move the door.

Other objects and advantages of the invention I will appear in the following description thereof.

Referring now to be the accompanying draw- .ing, forming part of the application, and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts? Fig. 1' is a side elevation of the lower part of a car door equipped with my improved door fix- "tures and showing the door in raised position.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the "door in 'closed and locked position. p i Fig. 3 is a, section on line 33, Fig. 2.

upper suchasathe' side plate l0, which is of Z-shape with the web thereof horizontally disposed, and

with the inwardly upwardly disposed flange ll terminating in a reflange 12 in the plane of the roof [3, the outer margin of which rests upon said reflange l2 and isturned down against the flange I"! and'secured thereto.

To the outward 50laims. (01.16-99) The side sill of the car is shown at 20 to which is secured spaced brackets 2| which support the door track 22, horizontally disposed below the door opening 23. The forward door post is provided with the usual vertical sealing strip 24 and the rear door post is likewise provided with a sealing strip 25 to seal the door when closed against entrance of dust, etc.

At the rear lower corner of the door there is secured thereto a roller housing having a roller 3! rotatably mounted therein, and adapted to roll upon track 22 when the door is being moved. Roller housing 30 also has a part 32 depending downwardly and provided with a lock portion 33 hooking under the downturned flange of track 22 so as to prevent the door from rolling off the track. It will be noted that the bottom of the rear margin of the door is chamfered from a point indicated at 34 to the rear of the door, so that when the door is in normal closed position resting on the lower edge thereof, roller 3| will be raised slightly above the track level, as shown in Figure 2. When, however, the door is tipped by the hereinafter described apparatus upon the point 34 as a fulcrum, roller 3| will be lowered until roller 3| contacts track 22 and the door is raised from engagement with the track.

At the forward lower margin of the door there is welded thereto a stub sleeve 35, over which is welded to the car a channel-shaped housing 36, having an opening therein axially alined with the opening in said sleeve 35, in which opening downturned flange I4 is secured a Z-shaped hood of door I8.

and sleeve is mounted the stub shaft 31 of bellcrank shaped operating lever 38, forming a pivotal mounting for the lever. The bell-crank part 39 of lever 38 carries a roller housing 40 in which is rotatably mounted, as at 4|, the roller 42 positioned so as to be rollable on track 22. The

lower part 43 of bell-crank part is turned in the form of an upwardly facing hook portion 44 which underlaps the downturned flanges 45 and 46 of track 22 and bracket 2|, respectively, to prevent the door from rolling off the track.

A triangularly shaped inwardly projecting embossment 41 is integrally formed on inner face of hook portion 44, which, when the door is closed, 'as shown in Figure 2, occurs in the path of a similarly shaped door stop lug 48 welded to the outer surface of track flange 45 to prevent the door from accidentally opening, and also to provide a means whereby the bell-crank portion 39 of the lever may force the door closed when necessary. It will be noted that the embossment 4'! and lug 48 are disposed with their hopotenusal sides parallel so that should buifing shocks occur to the car while door is open having a tendency to close the door, the hypotenusal side of embossment 4'! would enage that of the lug 48 and slide under same, returning to normal position after passing lug 48.

Thus when the door I8 is in the position shown in Figure 2 the bottom of the door, from the forward edge thereof to point 34, rests upon the track, and as such doors are of considerable weight, the friction is normally sufiicient to hold same in position. When, however, it is desired to move thedoor, the lever 38 is pulled downwardly to the position shown in Figure 1, which forces roller 42 downwardly against the track 22 and raises the front edge of the door, causing same to pivot on point 34 which in turn lowers roller 3| on rear edge of door and ultimately raising that side of door so that the entire weight of the door is then carried upon the rollers, at which time said door may be readily moved. It will be noted in Figure I that a member 49 is secured to the under side of the track, which member, as will be seen in Figure 2, is in the path of hook portion 4d and may be used to pry the door open by forcing bell-crank portion of lever 38 thereagainst during the initial operation of said lever in opening the door. Similarly when the door is being closed, the door may be forced to complete sealing engagement against sealing means 24 and 25 by raising upwardly on lever 38 which causes embossment 41 to engage lug 48 and pry the door to final closed position.

A dog 50 is pivotally mounted, as at at one end to the housing 36 so as to be freely swingable thereon and the other end of said dog is oifset and bifurcated, as at 52, to occur in the pathof lever 38 when in the position shown in Figures 2 and 3. The bifurcated ends of said dog and the lever are provided with registerable slots 53 so that a car seal may be. threaded therethrough when the door is in closed position.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the invention, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a railway car having a wall with a doorway therein and a track secured to said wall below said doorway; a door movable along said track to close or open said doorway, the portion of said door adjacent the rear edge thereof being inclined to the plane of the remaining portion of the bottom of said door, said. remaining portion normally being in engagement with said track, the line of intersection of said portions forming a fulcrum on which said door may rock with respect to said track, a roller supported by the lower rear corner of the door normally out of engagement with said track, and means to support a roller at the lower front corner of said door, said means including a lever adapted to force said last mentioned roller against said track to raise and tilt said door on said fulcrum until the other of said rollers engages said track and becomes a new fulcrum when said first mentioned roller is further forced against said track.

2. In a railway car having a wall with a doorway therein and a track secured to said wall below said doorway; a door movable along said track to close or open said doorway, rollers supported at opposite lower corners of said door normally out of engagement with said track, the portion of the bottom of said door adjacent the rear edge thereof being inclined to the plane of the remaining portion of the bottom of said door, said remaining portion normally being in engagement with said track, the line of intersection of said portions forming a fulcrum on which said door may rock with respect to said track, and means to force one of said rollers against said track to raise and tilt said door on said fulcrum until the other of said rollers engages said track, and becomes a new fulcrum when said first mentioned roller is further forced against said track.

3. In a railway car having a wall with a doorway therein and a track secured to said wall below said. doorway; a door movable upon rollers along said track to close or open said doorway, the portion of the bottom of said door adjacent the rear edge thereof being inclined to the plane of the remaining portion of the bottom of said door, said remaining portion normally being in engagement with said truck, the line of intersection of said portions forming a fulcrum on which said door may rock with respect to" said track, a bell-crank lever supporting at one end one of said rollers and adapted to force said last mentioned roller against said track to raise and tilt said door on said fulcrum until the other of said rollers engages said track and becomes a new fulcrum when said first mentioned roller is further forced against said track. 4. Lift mechanism for a car door slidably supported upon a track comprising a housing adapted to be secured to said door, a bell-crank lever pivotally supported between its ends within said housing, one arm of said lever forming an, operating handle and the other arm of said lever supporting a roller engageable with said track, upon operation of said handle, said other arm terminating in a hook portion adapted to underlie said track to prevent said roller from rolling off said track.

5. In combination a track, a door slidably supported upon said track, a housing secured to said door, a bell-crank lever pivotall'y supported between its ends within said housing, one arm of said lever forming an operating handle and the other arm of said lever supporting a roller engageabIe with said track, upon operation of said handle, said other arm terminating in a hook portion underlying said track to pre ent said roller from rolling off said track, and a stop lu projecting from said track normally in the path of said other arm to hold said door closed against accidental movement, said arm clearing said stop lug upon said operation of said handle.

KURT E. ZEIDLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

